21st Century Mobility: The Design Of The Subfluvial

The representative for Infrastructures and Territorial Development, Imano Pradales, has participated in the opening of the international meeting on subfluvial tunnels organized by the World Road Association (PIARC), which is being held at the Euskalduna Palace.

International experts in subfluvial road infrastructure met today at the Euskalduna Palace for a conference organized by the World Road Association, PIARC, in collaboration with the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. During the event, it was possible to learn about different examples and projects of subfluvial and submarine tunnels at the hands of experts in the construction, operation and safety of these infrastructures from Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. In addition, various construction experiences have been exposed, such as the Eurasia tunnel in Istanbul.

Provincial Council of Bizkaia

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has also publicized the project and the technical aspects of the tunnel under the estuary. The deputy for infrastructures and Territorial Development himself, Imanol Pradales, has participated in the opening of the congress and the first session of the day has been dedicated to the subfluvial project that will unite the right and left banks of the estuary and will form, together with Supersur, the new great variant of Bizkaia. The panel was led by Mikel Ortuzar, head of the planning and projects service of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, and Eduardo Rivero and Santiago Vilariño, from SENER engineering, who offered the most technical aspects of the project.

The deputy explained that the tunnel under the estuary will bring the Right Bank and the Left Bank even closer, the main population centers of Bizkaia. “More than five million people cross each year between both banks and they will do so more comfortably through the tunnel. The length of the tunnel is 3,037 meters, 200 of them under the estuary. The simulations carried out indicate that the tunnel under the Ría will attract around 51,000 vehicles per day. With a forecast of start-up in 2028 and an investment of 400 million euros, its execution continues to meet stages. It is currently in the drafting phase of the construction project that we hope can be completed this next summer”, has detailed.

“The tunnel under the estuary offered us a challenge and a great opportunity: to convert it into a multimodal infrastructure. It offered us to think about 21st century mobility for the 21st century. From the beginning, the intention was to explore the opportunity to build a multimodal infrastructure.

That is, give the tunnel its maximum potential, maximize investment and benefit for all the people of Bizkaia. We have sought the best option from the social, environmental and economic point of view. And we have specified it in the construction of a shuttle train that will take advantage of the subfluvial tunnel to join the two main Metro lines, which run without crossing it on both banks of the estuary.

A railway connection with a layout of 2,600 underground meters that will coexist together with one of the tubes of the tunnel under the estuary along of more than 300 meters A connection that will serve thousands of people every day with frequencies of around 5 minutes and a travel time between stations is 4 minutes”, explained Pradales.

International Experts

Among the international experts who have taken part in the conference, the following stand out: Marcel t’Hart, coordinator of the group of submerged tunnels of the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association; Murat Gucuyener from the Eurasia Tunnel in Istanbul; Eivind Grov, Scientific Director of SINTEF Norwegian Tunneling Network.

This article is originally published on web.bizkaia.eus